Fleeting Memories
by vdhd
Summary: They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them. Emmeline Vance remembers her love...Regulus Black


**They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them.**

I know now what I wish I when then. As the front door is blown off its hinges, I think of the person that I miss the most. My love might have been unconventional and wrong but I loved him anyway. I can remember the first minute I saw him.

_The great front doors of Hogwarts opened and all the nervous first years stumbled in. I was standing by a girl with dirty blond hair, but was knocked forward by a boy with black hair and steely gray eyes._

"_Excuse you" I said as I brushed the dust off my shoulder. _

"_Bugger off" He said as he walked off and stood alone. _

_That was the first time I saw Regulus Black. I only had known him for minute and I already thought there was something special about him. _

As men dressed in black enter the room and jets of colored light illuminate the walls and more memories flood back to me. The very first time I really talked to him.

_Fifth year had been the hardest yet, so much school work and the war was getting worse and worse. I was sitting in the library studying for my ever-approaching O.W.L's._

"_May I sit here" a smooth voice came from behind me. I turned in my seat and saw it was Regulus Black. We barely said a word to each other since he told me to "bugger off" the first day of first year._

"_If you please" was my response. _

"_What are you studying?" He asked. I was surprised; I hadn't expected him to say anything else while I was sitting here._

"_Charms, it's my worst subject" I said, pushing a piece of my hair behind my ear. I glanced up from my book and found Regulus staring at me. _

"_It's rude to stare, didn't your mother ever tell you that" I said feeling uncomfortable under his gaze. _

"_My mother prefers to yell at my brother, rather than talk to me" Regulus said as he bent down to retrieve a book from his bag. That was the first time I felt sorry for him._

"_Would you like me to help you?" He asked._

"_With what?" I asked stupidly._

"_Charms" He answered with a hint of a smile on his face._

"_Sure" I answered uncertainly. We spent the next hour pouring over charms and chatting bit about ourselves from time to time. He was a lot nicer than I thought; soon we were done and bid each other good-bye. I appreciated him for helping me; somehow Charms had become my favorite subject after that._

I stumbled into my kitchen table and shot a spell at the Death Eater closest to me. He roared in pain and slashed his wand through the air and a burning gash was drawn across my cheek. I moaned in pain and fired a few more spells; I killed one of the Death Eaters and ran into the next room.

_The first Hogsmeade weekend of the year was upon us and I was going alone, as my friends all had dates. Sure I had been asked, but I had no interest in those boys. I walked down the path to the little village and took in everything around me. The students paired off or in groups walking from store to store. I walked into the more rural part of the village. It wasn't scary or anything, just a bit…threatening. _

_As I walked by the Hogshead a pair of hands grabbed me from behind and I didn't even have a chance to scream. I was thrown to the ground and encircled by a group of Slytherins. I was scared, truly scared, I could defend myself because they had taken it and cast it aside and I was outnumbered, six to one. _

_They took turns hexing me and then a girl, who I believe was Evan Rosier's sister, slapped me and cut the side of my face. _

"_Stop" Someone called out._

"_What do you mean?" One of the people hissed._

"_Is she worth getting expelled?" Regulus sneered._

"_No I guess not" Evan Rosier's sister said._

"_Lets go" someone else said.  
They left me on the ground with tears in my eyes. Regulus walked forward and extended his hand._

"_Thanks" I muttered wiping the tears and blood off my face._

"_Are you okay?" he asked._

"_Sure" I said, not really caring._

"_Would you like to go back to the castle?" he asked._

"_Yes please" I said._

_He walked me all the way to the hospital wing and waited while I got my cut healed. Then we took a walk around the grounds._

"_Why'd you stop them?" I asked._

"_I didn't like seeing them hurt you" he mumbled. I smiled and took his hand. He glanced at our hands and smiled a little._

"_Thank you" I said. After that we walked to the Black Lake and talked for the whole day. We sat my a white beech tree and we held hands most of the time. At the end of the day we walked back to the castle right on time for dinner._

"_Thanks for spending the day with me" I said._

"_No problem" Regulus said smiling a bit. He bent down and kissed me quickly on the lips and walked inside, leaving me to think. _

_I spent the day with him and I loved him._

The wall behind me was blasted out and all the Death Eaters barged into the room. I when from the bottom of my heart there was nothing I could do. I hadn't felt so helpless in so long.

_After dating secretly since we graduated I was deeply in love but was scared of the war, which was getting worse and worse. Regulus was constantly going out and disappearing for hours. I hoped he wasn't doing something terrible, I know his family supported You-Know-Who and his followers. _

"_Regulus" I called one night._

"_Yes" he asked as he walked into the room._

"_I have a question and I want you to be truthful, alright?" I said._

"_What is it, love?" he asked biting his lip._

"_You're not a D-Death Eater are you?" I asked. He stared at the floor, not speaking and I felt my eyes tear up._

"_Please say no, say no" I begged him as I grabbed his arm and shook it. _

"_I'm sorry" he said quietly, looking me in the eyes._

"_Can't you back out or leave him?" I pleaded._

"_I want to, I really do, but there is nothing I can do." Regulus said softly, looking away. _

"_Nothing?" I asked._

"_Nothing" he said looking at again. He kissed me and I kissed him back. There was nothing, nothing at all I could do for the man I love._

_The next day Regulus was "out" and can came back looking scared and disheveled._

"_Are you okay?" I asked later that night, when we were lying in bed._

"_Yes, I'm fine" he said smiling at me weakly. _

"_I want you to know no matter what I love you, forever" Regulus said staring into my eyes._

"_I love you too." I said smiling and then we kissed for a while and fell back to sleep. W_

_When I woke up Regulus was gone. I waited, and waited, but he never came back. He was gone, and I couldn't do anything. I could feel my heart breaking into a thousand pieces. I'd never fall in love again, I promised myself, I'd love Regulus forever._

I was blown backwards against another wall and hit a chair when I fell. My wand was lost in the debris.

I thought of death, sure it scared me but, death was just my next adventure. I thought of my life, the whole time just wishing Regulus was there. I lived for over twenty years and I couldn't forget about him. I never thought I could, and I'm happy I didn't.

"You ready to die, blood traitor?" the Death Eater cackled maliciously. _It's my next adventure_, I thought.

I smiled and looked up at him, "Yes" I said. He glared at me for a moment and then raised his wand. Everything went silent, the man mouthed the words and a jet of green light bolted towards me. I thought back to happy times, the funny thing was most of them were with Regulus. My smile got even wider. As the life faded out of me, I could see my memories play before me, but they didn't matter. They were just fleeting memories.


End file.
